Introduction Revise

BIOETHICS
Day 1
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Course Description
• This course deals with the application of
ethico-moral and legal concepts and
principles to issues that affect the practice
of nursing.
• These provide the basis for appropriate
decision making given varied situations, to
prepare the learner to render effective,
efficient and safe nursing care.
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Course Objectives
• At the end of the course and given actual
and relevant simulated situations/
conditions, the student will be able to:
– explain the concept, theories and
principles of bioethics in nursing and
health; and,
– apply relevant bioethical principles in
nursing and health related situations.
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COURSE INTENDED LEARNING
OUTCOME:
Knowledge
1.Understands the bioethical concepts.
2.Integrates the use of scientific knowledge,
facts and ethical principles and
argumentation in discussing cases
involving moral dilemmas;
3.Understands cultural diversity and
values
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OUTCOME:
Skills (capacity building in skill acquiring should
be multi-faceted or many sided, and the goals
include)
1. Develops critical thinking and decision
making skills and reflective processes
2. Develops foresight ability to evade
possible risks of science and technology
3. Develops skills for developing "informed
choice"
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OUTCOME:
Attitude (Personal moral development)
1. Understand better the diversity of views of different
persons
2. Increase respect for all forms of life
3. Elicit a sense of moral obligation and values
including honesty and responsibility
4. Being able to take different viewpoints to issues
5. Increase respect for different people and cultures,
and their values
6. Explore personal morals/values (values clarification)
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DEFINITION OF TERMS
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ETHICS
 MORAL PHILOSOPHY
 Derived from the Greek word ETHOS,
which means CUSTOM or CHARACTER
 Philosophical science that deals with
morality of human conduct
 Systematically establishes the standards
or norms of human acts
 Determines human acts as good or bad
and right or wrong
 Provides the principles on the morality
of human acts.
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ETHICS
 4 Major areas of Study:
1. Descriptive ethics
– this is the division of philosophical
or general ethics that involves the
observation of the moral decision-
making process with the goal of
describing the phenomenon.
– Describes the nature, essence or
substance of reality.
– reports what people believe, how they
reason, and how they act.
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ETHICS
2. Normative Philosophy
– concerned with criteria of what is
morally right and wrong.
– It includes the formulation
of moral rules that have
direct implications for what human
actions, institutions, and ways of life
should be like.
– 3 types of normative theories:
• virtue theories, deontological (moral
obligation) theories,
and teleological theories 10
VIRTUE-BASED THEORY
• Virtue based theories focus on the character

of the person.
• According to virtue based theories, ethics is
about what sort of person one should strive to
become.
• The qualities that one should develop in
oneself are called virtues (ex. honesty,
fairness, kindness, faithfulness, generosity,
prudence, integrity, bravery, etc.).
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VIRTUE-BASED THEORY
• For example:
• Aristotle claimed that in order to become an
honest person, one should tell the
truth. (Aristotle) Eventually it becomes a habit.
• One learns how to tell the truth appropriately,
without being brutally honest all of the time
or lying whenever it is easier to do so.
• It is a learning process that continues
throughout your life.
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DEONTOLOGICAL THEORY
• This type of theory claims that there are
features within the actions themselves which
determine whether or not they are right.
• These features define the extent to which the
actions conform with recognized moral duties.
• Deontological theories do not consider
consequences to be important when
determining whether or not an action is ethical.
– It doesn’t matter if the drunk driver made it
home safely.
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DEONTOLOGICAL THEORY
• Immanuel Kant's ethical theory is deontological.
– He claims that actions are only morally right
when they are done out of duty.
– He sees moral duties as unchanging laws for
human conduct.
– Always act out of duty, in accordance with a
good will
• I.e. One does the right thing because one
recognizes that it is the right thing to do, not
because it pleases you to do it or will promote
good consequences.). 14
TELEOLOGICAL THEORY
• This describes an ethical theory which judges

the rightness of an action in terms of an
external goal or purpose.
• According to a teleological theory,
consequences always play some part, be it
small or large, in the determination of what
one should or should not do.
• Theory of morality that derives duty or moral
obligation from what is good or desirable as
an end to be achieved. 15
ETHICS
3. Practical Philosophy
– A division in philosophy which reflects
on truth with due recourse of action.
– the attempt to work out the implications
of general theories for specific forms of
conduct and moral judgment;
formerly called applied ethics.
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ETHICS
4. Critical Philosophy (Epistemology)
– is the study of the nature and scope of
knowledge and justified belief.
– It analyzes the nature of knowledge
and how it relates to similar notions
such as truth, belief and justification.
– asks questions like: "What is
knowledge?", "How is knowledge
acquired?", "What do people know?",
"What are the necessary and sufficient
conditions of knowledge?"
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MORALITY
 Derived from the Latin word MOS or

MORIS
 Applied Ethics
 Actualizes/ applies the theories and
principles provided by ethics
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Postulates in Ethics
(Presumed to be true)
(1) The existence of God.

(2) The existence of intellect and free will.
(3) The spirituality and immortality of the
human soul.
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Moral Assumptions
(1) As a rational and free grade of animal,

man knows that there are actions that
are right or wrong, and good or bad.
(2) Man knows that there are actions that
he is not obliged to do.
(3) Man knows that he is responsible for
his actions.
(4) Man knows that those actions are
considered wrong are punishable and
that those actions that are right are
rewardable. 20
Humans: The Sole Moral Agents
• It is their being rational that makes humans

humans.
• The human person’s perceptual knowledge
helps him/her draw judgements as he/she
compares ideas.
• The human person, therefore, does not just
perceive things but also analyzes, assesses,
criticizes, or intellectualizing things.
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Intellect Compared with Will
• What does intellect do?
– It knows.
– Acts as the thinking faculty of the human
person.
– Enables him/her to search for truth
• What about the will?
– It chooses.
– It implements what it has chosen.
– Enables him/her to choose which is
good. 22
Concrete Basis of Morality
• Morality becomes vivid when one encounters
a moral experience.
• This moral experience leads him/her to a
moral problem.
• The human person is duty-bound to face
his/her obligation.
• Ex.
– Should a person who has no money, steal?
– Should a person who has no answer in an
exam, cheat?
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BIOLOGY
 Natural science that deals with the issue

of life
 Important in bioethics because it deals
with the multifarious (DIVERSE)
dimensions and domains of all life forms.
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BIOETHICS
 This term was introduced by DANIEL

CALLAHAN in 1969, together with
WILLARD GAYLIN when they founded
the HASTINGS CENTER
 Popularized by VAN RENSSELAER
POTTER in 1970
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BIOETHICS
 A discipline that deals with the ethical

implications of biological research.
 The study of ethical issues that emanate
from the changes and developments in
the life science technologies.
 A branch of ethics that deals with the life
sciences and their impact in society.
 A branch of ethics that analyzes moral
values in the context of biomedical
sciences.
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 A branch of the ethics of biological
science and medicine.
 A systematic study of the human
conduct in the areas of the life sciences
and healthcare.
 It belongs to the auspices of medical
ethics and is loosely anchored in the
avenues of life sciences.
 The study of the moral problems in
medicine and biological technology.
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BIOETHICS
PREVAILING ISSUES SURROUNDING THE

AUSPICES OF BIOETHICS:
 Human life
 Health
 Research
 Science
 Technology
 Philosophy, theology, law and medicine
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HEALTHCARE ETHICS
 A domain in the practice of the

healthcare profession that sets the
standards or guidelines relative to
studies, inquiries, and decisions on the
part of healthcare professionals in
relation to the delivery of healthcare.
 Deals with ethical issues such as: life-
support system, testing of diseases,
access to healthcare services, brain
death, clinical death, suicide, euthanasia,
vices and virtues, conscience and law.
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PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
 The normative moral system that

injuncts a kind of behavior that is
expected of a professional.
 NOT ONLY OF AN INDIVIDUAL BUT
ALSO AS A GROUP.
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BIOETHICS

• Virtue based theories focus on the character

• This describes an ethical theory which judges

 Derived from the Latin word MOS or

(1) The existence of God.

(1) As a rational and free grade of animal,

• It is their being rational that makes humans

 Natural science that deals with the issue

 This term was introduced by DANIEL

 A discipline that deals with the ethical

PREVAILING ISSUES SURROUNDING THE

 A domain in the practice of the

 The normative moral system that

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